When I arrived in from work the other evening I went straight down to the kitchen and turned on the oven. I didn't know what I was going to put in there but I knew it was going to be something home baked. This normally happens in the middle of winter when it is cold and dark and wet outside and I get the urge to bake, but the unseasonal cold weather and grey day made me want to "do" something to shake it all off. By the time I had my coat off I knew it was going to be Fairy Cakes (my generation's version of cupcakes) and within minutes they were in the oven. I have been using the same basic Madeira cake mix since I was in school and this recipe has never let me down. I change the flavour and filling all the time and use fondant icing, butter cream icing and royal icing to decorate but the basic cake mix never changes. I weigh 2, 3 or 4 eggs (depending on what I am making) in their shells and then use the same quantity of caster sugar, butter and flour and that's it. This time I decided to add some vanilla essence. Very quick and easy. Soon the smell was wafting all around the house (that's my favourite bit) and the kitchen was becoming crowded, with two legged and four legged hungry mouths. The fun bit was decorating them, I had some fondant icing left over from the Easter Cake I made so I used that, and then there was some "writing icing in tubes" that I found in the press (you wouldn't know what you might come across there!). I used those as well and when my daughter saw the finished result she proclaimed the "pupcakes" were gorgeous. Pupcakes! Now, I can do Fairy cakes, and Queen cakes and just about manage Cupcakes, but Pupcakes! That was a laugh, and I didn't even know I was making them.
I managed to finish the two pillow shams to match the "Over the Rainbow" quilt. What do you think? I used all the scraps to make a piano key border and some ribbon I had in my box. After transferring the designs to the background I hand embroidered one and appliqued and machine embroidered the other and, like the quilt, I think they turned out to be bright, colourful and cheery. There is a zip closure at the back and the free motion quilting echoes the quilting design on the quilt itself. My daughter hasn't seen them yet, I hope she will be happy with them. Now I just need to finish the label and sew it to the back of the quilt.
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